Last Chance
by Enchant me
Summary: The X-men are recruting young mutants for the school. But what if they don't want to come, just how dangerous are they? When and if they do come... what'll it bring? new characters for you who have read this.... Shane-Shelly 'action'
1. I Dream of Falling Rain

Chapter One: I Dream of Falling Rain  
  
"I dream of falling rain."  
  
Becky Malone stood in front of her class reading aloud her poem.  
  
"Because if rain had fell from the midnight sky,  
  
My parents would be still alive,  
  
This poem would be far from mind,  
  
And I wouldn't have to live a lie.  
  
I fear the fires of day and night,  
  
But pretend that everything's all right.  
  
In order to take away the pain,  
  
I have to dream of falling rain."  
  
The entire class went quiet. Becky bowed her head, now everyone would think she was a depressed psychopath, great! Not. She headed back to her seat thinking of how she should have stuck with her other poem. A happier one, about her new life, and everything that went right.  
  
Becky's parents were killed in a fire six months ago, now she lived with her Aunt Mary, Uncle Donnie, and their boys Cris and Kory. Cris was the oldest of the two, he was eleven to Kory's nine. Becky was twelve. Her Aunt and Uncle lived in a mansion in the mountains of West Virginia. They also own a farm. Becky lived good here compared to her family's tiny apartment in Sacramento, California; where the walls were covered in gray smoke stains from her father's bad smoking habit. That was how her family died. The cigarette was left lit over night and a curtain caught fire. Becky escaped with her gerbil, Charley.  
  
Before they died, her parents had been discussing sending Becky to a boarding school in Westchester, New York. The Xavier Institute for the Gifted Youth, it was called. Becky's parents wanted her to attend that school, but now Becky felt as if she would never have the chance. If she went that would mean leaving the only known family she had left, except for someone her parents called Jean. 


	2. Talk with Cris

Chapter Two: Talk with Cris  
  
*Should I go?* Becky asked herself, *It was what my parent's wanted*  
  
"Hey Becky!"  
  
"Huh?" Becky turned around. "Oh, it's just you."  
  
"Jeez! Don't sound so thrilled." Her cousin Cris told her.  
  
"No! I- I'm sorry," Becky apologized.  
  
"Bad day huh?" Cris said sympathetically. "Don't sweat it, it's all cool."  
  
"Cris," Becky laughed. "I'm serious! My teacher was about to sent me to the school councilor!"  
  
"Dude!" Cris stared at her in disbelief. "What did you do?"  
  
"I told them my parents died. No big deal."  
  
"You know you're taking their deaths awfully well, what are you really up to?"  
  
"Honestly Cris, I don't know yet." Becky said heading towards the library. "But you'll be the first to know, promise." She ran back and gave him a quick hug before disappearing around the corner. 


	3. Hidden in the Library

Chapter Three: Hidden in the Library  
  
'Xavier' Becky typed into the Internet search.  
  
22,367 Item(s) found.  
  
'Institute for the Gifted Youth' Becky tried again.  
  
14 Item(s) found.  
  
This time Becky tried 'Xavier Institute for the Gifted Youth"  
  
1 Item(s) found.  
  
Becky clicked on the site. The school, she found out, was a safe haven for mutants. Young mutants attended this school to learn to control their powers.  
  
*What does this have to do with me* she wondered as the computer in front of her exploded.  
  
"Oh my god! A bomb!" People were running everywhere screaming. Becky jumped out of her chair. *What just happened? Am I a mutant? Did I do that?*  
  
A man grabbed her arm. "What did you just to?"  
  
"I didn't do anything!" she cried in panic. "I was just looking up something on the Internet!"  
  
"Becky!" called someone in the opposite direction. "Becky! It's okay. We can help you!"  
  
Becky twisted out of the man's grip and ran to the person who had just called to her.  
  
"Wait!" She told them, "we have to find Cris!"  
  
"Honey," a man with a slight animal like appearance said. "Your boyfriend can wait."  
  
"Eww! He is so not my boyfriend!" Becky yelled. "He's my cousin and we have to find him or I won't let you help me. whatever that means."  
  
"Alright," said another man. He was more, clean cut than the other man and wore the tackiest visor Becky had ever seen. "I'll find him. Cris Gavin, right?"  
  
"Uh huh." Becky wasn't about to question how he knew his name as long as he found Cris.  
  
* * * * * * * * * *  
  
Once outside, after what seemed like an eternity, the man with the visor returned with Cris.  
  
"Oh my god! Cris are you okay." Becky gave him another hug, tighter than the one she gave him in the hall.  
  
"*Gag* Oww you're choking me!" Cris gasped.  
  
"It was all my fault the computer blew up!" Becky cried.  
  
"You got that right," the animal like man growled.  
  
"Logan," the woman next to him elbowed him in the ribs. "You're not helping!"  
  
The woman had long red hair and green eyes. "Hey," she said holding out her hand, "I'm Phoenix."  
  
"Becky," Becky said shaking Phoenix's hand and looking at the woman in confusion.  
  
"Becky," Phoenix said, "Perhaps you know me by my real name. Jean, Jean Grey." 


	4. Another New Home

Chapter Four: Another New Home  
  
"Becky, you can't be serious! You can't just leave!" Cris tried to talk some logic into Becky as she packed.  
  
"I can and I will!" She stated, indicating the discussion was over.  
  
Cris didn't take the hint. "Man, what'll dad say?"  
  
"You heard what Scott said, they'll be back for you in a year! Why don't you just pack up and come now?" Said Becky, thinking about Scott.  
  
Scott was the cutest guy she had ever seen he had reddish, brown hair and wore these dorky glasses but he was still hot. He was also way too old!  
  
"Please, your thinking about *him* is making me sick!" Cris told her, pretending to puke.  
  
"Stay out of my head genius!" Becky laughed.  
  
"I'll come," Cris decided. "To keep tabs on you and your hormones."  
  
"My what- huh? What are you talking about?"  
  
"I said I was coming."  
  
"Dude," Becky told him, "We are gonna rock that school."  
  
"They'll never know what hit 'em!" Cris added. 


	5. Standing Outside the Fire

Chapter Five: Who Controls the Flame  
  
Meanwhile, at the Institute, another young mutant was having her own problems.  
  
"Nickayla?" Nickayla Romerez awoke, startled by the sharp tap on her right shoulder. She had fallen asleep at her desk again, and now the other students were laughing at her. *Why wouldn't she just let me sleep?* She asked herself.  
  
"Nickayla, please see me after class." Her teacher, Ms. Grey instructed.  
  
Nickayla was the new kid and just wanted to fit in. It was hard! She entered the school halfway through the trimester and so far had lost more sleep than she had brain-cells! Her appearance didn't help much either. You could tell by looking at her she was Asian, she had brown eyes, but her naturally red hair made her look out of place. It was these odd features, when put together, that made her look inhumanly adorable.  
  
"Nickayla, You really need to get some more sleep," Jean Grey told her. "I can't keep letting you sleep in my class! It isn't fair to the others."  
  
"You make it sound like I asked to come here!" Nickayla shouted, storming out of the room.  
  
To her teachers she was Nickayla, an overly tired, yet normal student. To her friends she was Firefly. She had an unnatural talent when it came to fire. She could set anything ablaze by pure thought.  
  
Naturally, upon arriving at the Xavier Institute a month ago, she bonded instantly with pyrotic, John Allardyce. She created the flame, he controlled it until she decided she was bored and willed it away, that was how they worked.  
  
Later, in the dining hall, Nickayla reamed into John.  
  
She wasn't scared of him like most people and if it were up to her, John wouldn't come into contact with fire again. She could destroy the fire before John even realized it existed.  
  
Wouldn't you know it? This eight-year-old little girl had big, bad, seventeen-year-old Pyro wrapped around her little finger.  
  
"Pyro?" she screamed at him. "What kind of stupid, juvenile name is that?"  
  
"Oh yeah," Pyro scoffed. " 'Firefly is soooo much more mature!"  
  
"Well, I thought it was cute!" A tiny ball of fire appeared in her right hand. "Oh no you don't." She said, making it disappear as John tried to take control of it.  
  
"Come on! What did I do this time?" John was so tired of her little temper-tantrums.  
  
"I think you should change your name-"  
  
"NO!" John cut her off.  
  
Firefly glared daggers, a thousand times sharper than Logan's claws, at him. John swallowed. There was no way this little brat was gonna tell *him* what to do. And yet, she always did.  
  
"As I was saying," she growled, "I think you should change your name to something more along the lines of, oh, let's say Ashes?"  
  
"I was thinking something more along the lines of, oh, let's say 'no'" He mocked.  
  
"You're so conceited!" She yelled slamming the dining hall door as she left. John didn't worry, he never did, and she'd be back in five minutes with a better attitude.  
  
* * * * * * * * * *  
  
The other students watched, holding back laughter, at the trail of flames that followed Nickayla to her room; where her pillow burst into flames as she screamed into it. 


	6. Not in this Lifetime

MEMO: Hey it is I the wacko, psychopathic, insane . . . author of this story here to let u know that I am in desperate need of ideas. And for all you Logan Lovers here is some one a little easier for you to 'capture'! A pre-mature, 16 year old clone of his!!!!! Named Shane! For Wolf-of-Black- Dawn.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Chapter Six: Not in this Lifetime  
  
*Snikt* The three adamantium claws slid out of Shane's knuckles. Shane looked around the dark alley, *where is she?* Shelly had been his best friend since seventh grade, when he stumbled onto the school grounds undernourished, scared, beaten, and without a memory.  
  
***  
  
While everyone looked at him as though he was beneath him or her, Shelly had taken the initiative and tried to be his friend. He tried pushing her away at first, he didn't need a girl to help him fit in! In truth though, he did (not that he'd ever admit to it). Shelly wasn't the kind of girl to let him have the last say in an argument, because she easily kicked his ass (not in public) and knew more about the 'fairness' that came into play, during street fighting. The only way Shane could come close to winning was if he used his powers, but that would hurt her and that was the very last thing he wanted to do.  
  
***  
  
*Snikt* The claws retracted.  
  
"Hiya, Shane!" Shelly called.  
  
Shane jumped and spun around to face Shelly at the other end of the alley. "Hey Shell," He replied walking over to her. "What did I tell you about scaring me like that?"  
  
"Umm . . . " Shelly paused, "Only that you're a mutant, and you're dangerous, and scaring you can set you off. . . oh. . . oops, sorry."  
"Forget about it, " Shane replied lightly. "Lets just hurry and give Principal Barns his birthday present, so i can go home and sleep." Shane yawned to emphasize this.  
  
"Get home and sleep." Shelly corrected.  
  
"Yeah, that, whatever," he grabbed a can of spray-paint from her backpack. "C'mon!"  
  
"Hey," Shelly laughed, "I wanted the blue paint!"  
  
"Pshh! And leave me with hot pink? Hell no!"  
  
"But Shane!" She ran after him all the way to the school. Shane stopped and Shelly, who wasn't paying attention, ran into his back. Shane looked in wonder at the surreal scene unfolding in front of him.  
  
Two women, men, and a pre-teen boy; were walking down a jet's loading ramp.  
  
"C'mon Becky," the boy yelled in to the jet. He then turned to a young, dark skinned woman with arctic white hair, "Ororo, you said we were making a pit stop! According to the radar screen we're in Miami! That is not a pit stop! I signed up for boarding school not a tour of the entire East Coast!"  
  
"Aww, shut it!" A blonde haired girl with iridescent purple eyes, slightly older than him, appeared at the top of the loading ramp. "Really Cris, how often do you get to make a pit stop in MIAMI??"  
  
"I just wanna know what kinda crazy person would want a walking land mine to attend his school!" Cris shot back.  
  
"No one insults Professor Charles Xavier," *Snikt* Three evenly space claws shot out of his knuckles. "In front of me," A man with unkempt sideburns lunged at Cris, "and lives to tell about it!"  
  
Cris smirked as the man hit an invisible barrier and slid to the ground. "Logan there are more pressing matters at hand." Cris stated sounding as close as he could to Scott. Logan clawed and scratched at the barrier, determined to get to Cris.  
  
"What are we doing here?" Becky asked walking over to Scott and Jean.  
  
"Logan!" Jean whispered loudly. Logan turned to stare at her and dropped his fists, claws still extended, to his side. Cris dropped his protective barrier. Jean looked at Becky then shifted her gaze to where Shane and Shelly were standing. Becky's jaw dropped and suddenly the ground behind Shane exploded. Everyone looked at Becky as they heard the familiar *Snikt* of claws being unsheathed. It was Shane.  
  
"Huh?" Logan asked, rather stupidly.  
  
"Mystique?" Scott challenged.  
  
"Logan," Jean breathed, "meet your own reconstructed teenage DNA."  
  
Logan blinked. Once. Twice. Three times. Logan smiled. Shane smiled. Before anyone knew what happened they heard the sound of metal against metal.  
  
Logan against Logan?  
  
Shane against Shane?  
  
Logan against Shane?  
  
Forty-five minutes later (after Cris and Jean telepathically pried them apart), Logan and Shane faced each other, while Jean and Storm tried to persuade Shane to attend the school.  
  
"Yea, you really should go," Shelly put in. Jean gave the red haired girl a grateful smile. Shane turned to look into Shelly's clear blue eyes.  
  
"I can't," he told her, "my entire life is here. I can't risk losing everything for something that might not work."  
  
"Your whole life is not here! Only seventh grade until now, hey they might know something about you that I don't."  
  
Shane grabbed Shelly's arm and pulled her away. "Not in this lifetime." 


End file.
